Getting Started Chick Kits - $40

We now have chick kits available for a one-stop-shop for your chicks and supplies.   

The kit includes the following:

1 chick base and 1 qt. canister feeder (available in purple or yellow)
1 chick base and 1 qt. canister waterer (available in green or red)
1 red heat lamp bulb (in box)
1 metal brooder heat lamp reflector with clamp
1 5 lb bag Manna Pro medicated chick starter feed
Basic Chicken Instruction Sheet
$10 voucher for chicks

All kit items (minus chicks) are brand new directly from the distributor's warehouse to our location.

Chicks can be a mix of whatever is available at the time.  Availability changes daily as chicks sell.

Special chick pricing for kit purchases:

1. Cross Breeds - These chicks are bred to be a hardy dual purpose chickens that are very good to excellent egg layers. The rooster is a Birchen Marans and the chicks come from the following excellent egg laying hens: Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, Black Sex Link, and Turken. These chicks come in lots of unique colors and patterns.

Chicks Days Old: $3 each
Chicks 1-2 weeks: $4 each
Chicks 3-4 weeks: $5 each
Chicks 4-5 weeks: $6 each
 
They are unsexed.
Breed mix cannot be guaranteed except for Turkens (Naked Neck) as the rest are too hard to differentiate.

2. Marans - These chickens are known for their very dark eggs, but are also a dual purpose bird. The rooster is a Birchen Marans and our hens are Black Copper Marans and a Blue Copper Marans. These hatches will produce Black Copper Marans, Black Birchen (Silver) Marans, Blue Copper Marans and Blue Birchen (Silver) Marans.

Chicks Days Old: $6 each
Chicks 1-2 weeks: $7 each
Chicks 3-4 weeks: $8 each
**there is now a waiting list on Marans**

They are unsexed.
In the early ages we can only usually distinguish black from blue chicks.


If you are a newbie, don't worry, we can answer questions and help get you started.

Rooster or Hen?

This is the timeless question for the "unsexlinked" breeds.  Everyone always wants to know if a chick is going to be a rooster or a hen.  We have read lots of information and watched numerous videos and I think I've come to the conclusion that it is a skilled art. :-)

A friend of mine sent me this from Mother Earth News.  The picture below is from this link: http://www.motherearthnews.com/multimedia/image-gallery.aspx?id=64556

This is their theory and I'm not sure I agree with it or not as our Black Sex Link always lays very rounded eggs and I can hardly believe that she only lays females.  My Blue Copper Marans pullet, on the other hand, always lays a longer, more oval egg...I'd be devastated if she only produces males!


What do you think?  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Chicken Hatching Calendar

I hope that calendar isn't too hard to see.  I thought it was the neatest explanation of how a chick develops and what happens on each day.  Unfortunately, our chicken eggs are WAY too dark to see all the things they state above.  Our mixed breed eggs are definitely much lighter than the Marans, but they are still all shades of brown eggs.  I itching to purchase a breed that lays white eggs for color variety and to be able to actually watch the chicken closer in the egg.  The kids already love watching what we can see, I can't imagine how excited they would be to see one each day through a white egg.

The Chicks are Here! The Chicks are Here!

We had 33 chicks hatch on the 6th and 7th!  Oh, how fun to watch them break out of their shell.  It is such a miracle and I love to watch every time.  I highly suggest that every person get to watch a chick hatch and especially every child.  It is simply amazing.  I will have to record one hatching and post it soon.  All are healthy and chirping. :- )

Here they are in the broader box with their heat lamp. It is hard to believe that there are 33 chicks  in that pile.  They sure know how to squish together! 

On the floor is our recycled shredded paper which seems to be working great because it isn't has big as straw so they aren't tripping and it isn't flat newspaper so it isn't slippery.  In the back left corner of the top picture, you can see our small yogurt container that now has red rock and water in it.  The rock prevents the chicks from drowning and the red rock seems to attract them more to the water than the regular gray rock that we used in the past.

If anyone is interested in some of these chicks, please email me. You can find my email on the right side of the screen in the "About Me" section.

Each chick is $4
They are unsexed
We cannot ship chicks at this time

We got a rooster....

Well, low and behold one of the 6 Orpington chicks we purchased back in October has identified himself as a rooster.  The young fella tries desperately to crow and I don't want to laugh at him, but almost find myself busting out with a few chuckles because his crow is so raspy and well, just plain funny.  It is almost like a boy in junior high whose voice is in the middle of changing.  :-0 

 He sure is beautiful...I love the blue colored birds.

Funny thing is that there is a another Blue Orpington that is much larger than this one and also has a comb about the size of this guy.  I thought for sure the other one was a rooster and he still may be one, but maybe he's in on the scoop that the sooner he crows and the labels himself a male, the sooner he ends up in "Abbott Freezer Camp" or for sale.  Maybe he witnessed Paul butchering the last batch of roosters when he was a tyke and therefore has had nightmares ever since....well, I guess we will see if it decides to ever drop an egg out.  lol

Our Orpingtons are about 15 weeks old right now.  We just let them out to free range with the rest of the group for the first time this week and then we locked them in the hen house with the rest for the night.  Pixie has been vigilant on letting them know that they have to stay in the outside section of the coop.  At least she let's them eat and drink!

What I found interesting was that when we put the Orpington's in with the rest, Perry, our alpha rooster, barely blinked an eye at them.  I figured that he would help put them in their rightful place in the pecking order.  Low and behold, instead it was one of our young (17 week old) Black Copper Marans roosters that we have in the hen house that was chasing them around inside the coop and pecking at them.  He even grabbed some of their feathers at times and would yank.  Such brutality!  So, it must be the one just above the newbies that put them in their place.  We have been keeping a close eye on them and each day they get along better.  The Orpingtons have learned to huddle real close together for safety's sake, I believe.  lol.  The best part is that they are already bigger than some of the hens and our two young Black Copper Marans roosters!  I guess size isn't everything.

This young Orpington rooster has also stopped crowing.  I haven't heard a peep out of him since he ended up in the hen house.  We'll see how long that lasts...

Speaking of which...I haven't ever heard the two young Black Copper Marans roosters attempt to crow either.  They are definitely old enough.  The only reason we know that they are roosters is because of their coloring.  It would be wonderful to have a couple "quiet" roosters for once.  I bet our neighbors would love it too!

New Chicks Due January 6th!

Happy New Year to everyone!

We will have new mixed breed chicks available on January 6th.  There are about 34 eggs in the incubator and because I am always so impatient and want to know how the chicks are doing, I candled them all last night. :-)  ALL of our eggs were fertile and growing right on time.  This round of eggs we are hatching came from Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, Black Sex Link, and Turken hens.  After they hatch we will be selling all of them at $4 each so if anyone is interested, please contact me as soon as possible to be put on the pre-sale list as these tiny fluff balls always sell quickly!  Getting on the list doesn't obligate you to buy, it just reserves your spot to purchase some if you still wish once they are hatched.

The only mix breed that I can guarantee in this bunch is the Turken / Birchen Marans mix as they don't have the neck feathers.  Sometimes I will know which are Buff Orpington / Birchen Marans mix as they can come out a golden yellow color.

Just to recap:
Each chick is $4
They are unsexed
Mixed breeds from excellent egg layers!

You can find my email address to the right of the blog in the About Me section.

Nesting Box Bedding

We initially started out with straw in our nesting boxes.  It was a typical bedding material for nesting boxes I was told.  The hens weren't picky about it either.  The problem is...we don't have a place to go with all of the straw and poop.  We have composting bins but we have so many chickens (and each one poops A LOT) that each time we clean out the coop and boxes, our compost bin is almost full.

So, we decided to brainstorm for other ideas that would make good bedding but deteriorate faster when composting.  We have a paper shredder so we thought we would try recycling that paper as a bedding since it would be easier to compost. 

The hens made a nice nest in it and the first day we found 4 eggs in it so I would say that they liked it. 

PROS:
Soft material for nest
Conforms well to how the hens wants it
Free (recycled)
Composts quicker than straw and takes up less room in the compost bin
Pretty easy to scoop out wet or poopy paper

CONS:
Takes quite a bit of paper for one box as it does pat down quickly. 
Stays really wet if I don't change it quick enough
Sometimes sticks to eggs (not a huge deal and I can just pull them right off)

Overall, it seems like this is a good switch but we will have to reevaluate it as we go on a little longer.